Friday, July 20, 2007

Much talk in Malaysia as well as in the West centers around the perceived need for an “Islamic Reformation.” What is probably meant by this is something that will have the same effect on Islam as what happened to Christianity in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, when a monolithic theo-political power (i.e. the Roman Catholic Church) cracked and what emerged, eventually, was a Christianity that overall was less oppressive, less domineering, and less doctrinaire than what had existed before. Of course, this picture is oversimplified … and do not forget that barrels of blood were spilled in the process. Or maybe what people really want is just someone to stand up and be Mecca’s version of Martin Luther and say, “enough of this foolishness.”

It’s a hopeful, optimistic vision, and who doesn’t want to be an optimist in these restive times? However, even zealous optimists must take care so as to not misplace their hopes. Hence, the question is this--given Islam’s dogmatic and traditional nature (to say the least), is reforming Islam a feasible endeavour?

In order to answer this question with any precision, the true circumstances surrounding the founding of Islam must be examined, and in particular, the actions of the founder of this ideology need to be critically scrutinized. Islam was founded by the self-proclaimed prophet Mohammed in the seventh century (not withstanding the Muslim claims of “everyone since Adam has been a Muslim”). Without Mohammad, Allah, the Quran, and Islam would be unknown. Islam has never existed, and cannot exist, without invoking the example of Mohammed’s life, his actions, and his words. He is the religion's sole prophet, Islam’s solitary example, and Allah’s lone conduit. Mohammed has been hailed by 14 centuries of Islam as the perfect soul, and the noblest model of behaviour that every Muslim must strive to emulate.

So what did Mohammed spend his one life on earth doing? According to authentically Islamic sources (specifically Ibn Ishaq’s biography of Mohammed and Bukhari’s Ahadith, both generally accepted by Muslims as reliable), here is what Mohammed did in his lifetime:

-He had political opponents murdered-He murdered prisoners of war, sometimes after the most brutal of torture-He seized the women and children of his victims, using them for sexual favors, taking them as wives and concubines, selling them into slavery for profit, or sometimes all of the above-He persecuted the Jews in particular until his oppression and butchery were borderline genocidal-He agreed to peace treaties with his enemies (“hudnas”), and then broke the agreements as soon as such action was to his advantage-He and his followers stole anything and everything they could get their hands on, in order to finance their movement and obscenely enrich themselves-He and his followers had repeated sexual intercourse with children

This foregoing list is but scratching the surface of Mohammed’s depravity. “By their fruits ye shall know them,” goes the Biblical parable, which is just a fancy way of saying that one’s worth or true character can be ascertained by one’s actions. Judging Mohammed by his actions, he was plainly no prophet—rather, he was a pirate, terrorist, brigand, paedophile, thief, liar, and murderer.

Remember, Muslims hold up Mohammed as the *perfect* model of behaviour. Therefore, what Mohammed did in the 7th century, according to Islam, is still just as praiseworthy and respectable now as it was then, and will be for all time. Furthermore, this ‘fact’ can never be up for discussion or revision—the mere suggestion of anything so untoward in Islam is in itself blasphemy and heresy!

How can any honourable, decent movement or religion ever be based on or draw its inspiration from such a man like Mohammed? Any house built on such rotten foundations will itself be rotten, and be beyond fixing. Trying to fix such a structure would be a colossal waste of time, money, and effort. Ask anyone in construction, or any engineer, and they can tell you—if the foundations of a building are fundamentally unsound, the only solution is to start over from scratch.

Throughout fourteen centuries, despite endless attempts to do so, no one has ever come close to succeeding to ‘repairing’ Mohammedanism. “Islam Hadhari” is but the latest effort in this regard, and there is no reason to suspect that it will be any more successful than the rest. For that matter, why should we expect any future attempts to succeed? In fact, most such ‘Islamic reform movements’, like the Wahhabis of Saudi Barbaria, have only managed to enhance Islam’s inherent wickedness. Also, bearing in mind how the Salafists themselves got their own start as ‘reformers’ of Islam, one can already argue that the Islamic reformation happened already--i.e. the Wahhabists, the Muslim Brotherhood, Bin Laden, et al--and we’re fighting it now.

So here’s how I see it. Trying to ‘reform Islam’, considering the indisputable actions of its founder, is like trying to build a respectable political party based on Hitler’s crackpot racial theories. It simply can’t be done!

Where there is a Multiplicity of Thought, the Insane Powers of the Grand Ayatollahs and their Puppet Imams will fall like an over-ripe fig, and their women will gain Equal Status With The Other Great Women Of History! reb

as long as there is no separation of state and religion in islam there will be no reform possible. a separation would force clerics back to where they belong (mosques), which means they would lose power and people would start to think for themselves in everyday life. or rather, get to realize that what their imams teach them is not "the whole truth". provided, of course, that they got decent political leaders... not the ahmadinejad like. but again.... ahmadinejad only got that far with the help of the fundamental religious leaders.

Islam is hopeless and we should minimize our interaction with it. You can't fully isolate, but you can lessen our interaction with it - no more muslims, no more jizya to Muslim countries. Secure America and focus on reducing our dependence on their oil. We have spent $500,000,000,000 on Iraq. What could we have done with that to improve America, to secure America - fences anyone?, deportation of Muslim immigrants and subsidize incentives to reduce energy consumption?

anti jihadistPosting messages like this is like self gratification, theres no engagement with the other. Islam is a self contained religion. Its followers have been brainwired to repetitive rote prayers and not to question their religion. It will probably take 1 or 2 generations to see a cultural change in their thinking.

People talk about the need to reform Islam. Now you can stop talking and start helping.

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